ORIGIN OF THE NAME 

OF MAINE 



BY 



ALBERT MATTHEWS 



ORIGIN OF THE NAME 

OF MAINE 



BY 

ALBERT MATTHEWS 



REPRINTED FROM 

THE PUBLICATIONS 

OF 

€|)e Colonial ^ociet^ of a^a0sfaclju0ett0 

Vol. XII 



CAMBRIDGE 
JOHN WILSON AND SON 

SSnibersttg ^ress 
1910 



Ol^ 



^iO 






ORIGIN OF THE NAME OF MAINE 



ORIGIN OF THE NAAIE OF MAINE. 

It is not a little singular that the origin of the names of some of 
our States, even the older ones, is still more or less in doubt. The 
State of Maine has a name which antedates the names of all other 
States except Virginia and Massachusetts.* How IMalne received its 
name has been a subject of controversy. But though much has been 
wTitten on the subject, yet, as some of the points involved are obscure, 
as some historians still cling to a theory long ago exploded, as there 
appears even now to be a hesitancy on the part of many other his- 
torians in accepting what is without doubt the true origin, and as a 
thorough account of the matter has apparently never been written, 
an apology for a new presentation of the case is hardly needed. 

In the charter granted by Charles I to Sir Ferdinando Gorges on 
April 3, 1G39, occur these words: 

Know Ye therefore that of Our special Grace, certain Knowledge & 
mere Motion, We ... by tliese Presents for Us, Our Heirs & Successors 
do ^ive, grant & confirm unto the said Sir Ferdinando Gorges . . . all 
tliat Part, Purpart, & Portion of the Main Land of New England afore- 
said ... as also all the Islands & Isletts lying within five Leagues of die 

' The name Virginia, as is of course well known, was, wiien given by Queen 
riizabfth at the time slie knifjhted Ralegh (January ('), 15S4-S5), applied to an 
iiulcfiiiile tract of tiTritory iiortii of I'loriila. The name Massaclui.^etts occurs 
in Capt. John Smith's Description of New England, published in 1616. The 
nami' Connecticut (under the form (^uonelitacut) is found in \\'inthrop's Jour- 
nal under date of April 4, ICil. The Connecticut River was ikuiuhI the Fresh 
River by the Uutili, and continued to be so called by them long after the 
adoption by the English of the name Connecticut. 



1909] ORIGIN OF THE NAME OF MAINE 367 

Main all along the aforesaid Coasts ... all which s'l Part Purpart or 
Portion of the said Main Land, & all & every the Premises herein before 
named We do for us Our Heirs & Successors create & incorporate into 
one Province or County, And We do name, ordain & appoint that the 
Portion of the Main Land & Premises aforesaid shall forever hereafter 
be called & named the Province or County of Maine, & not by any 
other Name or Names whatsoever.^ 

So far as I know it was not until the close of the eighteenth century 
that a theory was advanced in regard to the origin of this title. In 
1795 Sullivan said: 

Gorges and Mason, supposed that they had now their enemies 
under their feet, and agreeing to divide their territory, Gorges, in the 
year 1639, obtained from the King a very extraordinary grant of all the 
lands between the river Piscataqua, and the river Kenebeck or Sagada- 
hock, and extending one hundred and twenty miles into the country 
from the sea. This was granted under the name of the Province of 
Maine. Prior to this grant, the name of Province, or County of Maine, 
was never known.^ 

A little farther on, but still referring to the year 1639, Sullivan 
remarked : 

The territory was then called the Province of Mayne, by way of a 
compliment to the queen of Charles I. who was a daughter of France, 
and owned as her private estate, a province there, called the Province of 
Meyne, now called the Province of Maine. But since the general govern- 
ment has made our territory a district, it has lost one of the letters which 
formerly was used, and is now called Main.^ 

In 1803 Abiel Holmes, copying Sullivan, said: "The name of the 
Province of Maine was given in compliment to the queen of Charles I, 
who owned, as her private estate in France, the Province of Meyne." ^ 
In 1830 George Folsom, who later changed his opinion, said that 

* Documentary History of the State of Maine, vii. 223, 224. In the Century 
Cyclopedia of Names is this: "Maine. [In the charter granted by Charles I. 
in 1639 named 'The Province or Countie of Mayne,' because regarded as a part 
of 'the Mayne Lande of New England.'] " This reason, it is perhaps unneces- 
sary to point out, is not found in the charter itself. 

2 History of Maine, p. 122. 
=• Ibid. p. 307. 

* American Annals, i. 311 note. 



368 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [Dec. 

"The name was bestowed in compliment to the queen of England, 
a daughter of Henry IV. of France, who was connected by title or 
estate with the province of Meyne in France." ^ In 1832 Williamson 
wrote : 

The provincial name of Maine, though one by which this section of 
country was at that time frequently called, was chosen, probably, in com- 
pliment to the queen, who had inlierited a province of the same name in 
France. For this double reason, it was a name preferable to the old one, 
taken from the county of Somerset, in which the patentee had his resi- 
dence and perhaps his birth.- 

In an address delivered at Brunswick, Maine, on September 6, 
1846, George Folsom said that "The next event of general interest 
in the history of the State, is the confirmation of the patent from the 
Council of Plymouth to Gorges by a new charter from the Crown, in 
which the territory is first styled the Province of Maine, of which 
he was made Lord Palatine." ^ In a footnote, after quoting Sullivan, 
Folsom wrote: 

Such is the prevailing impression as to the origin of the name finally 
given by Gorges to his province, but unfortunately for its accuracy, the 
province of Maine in France did not aj)pertain to Queen Henrietta Maria, 
but to the crown; nor is it discoverable that she possessed any interest 
in that province.* 



' History of Haco and liidik-ford, p. 513. 

- History of the State of Maine, i. 277. Early in HV-^') the Council of the 
Pljrmouth Company decided to return its charter into the hands of the King; 
but before doing so, an agreement was made on February 3, 1634-35, for the 
several divisions of the seacoasts of New England. In this division no name is 
given to that portion which became Gorgcs's, but he soon (in 1()3()) called it 
New Somerset or New Somersetshire. For the history of the name of Somerset as 
employed in Maine, see Publications of this Society, vi. 61-70. 

^ Folsom is not the only one who has fallen into error in calling Ciorges " Lord 
Palatine." Gov. Chamberlain did the .same (Maine: her Place in History, p. 54), 
anil also a writer in London Notes and (Queries, Ninth Series, xii. 23. Such a 
title, however, was not used by Gorges himself. See Publications of this Society, 
viii. 206-207. 

* Collections of the Maine Historical Society, ii. 5S. Folsom adds: "The 
biography of this (jueen recently jjublished by Miss Strickland, is a work of 
intense interest and apparently drawn from ori^'inal and authentic .sources." 
This allusion would seem t(j indicate tliat Folsom, who in IS.'U) (as cjuoted in 
the text) had held that Henrietta Maria was "connected by title or estate with 



1909] ORIGIN OF THE NAME OF MAINE 369 

How the notion that a princess, who in 1639 was a youno-er sister 
of the King of France (Louis XIII), "owned as her private estate " 
or "inherited " a French province should have occurred to any one, 
it is not easy to see. Yet in spite of the pointing out of the error by 
Folsom as long ago as 1846 — reinforced by W. S. Southgate in 1853,^ 
by Palfrey in 1859,= by Bryant and Gay in 1876,' and by Governor 
Joshua L. Chamberlain * in 1876 — Sullivan's notion has been often 
repeated and is still entertained. "When he," wrote W. Willis in 
1857, referring to Gorges, "obtained a confirmation of his title from 
Charles I, in 1639 with powers of government, he gave it the name 
of Maine, in compliment to the Queen, a daughter of France, who 
held the Province of Mayne in that country as her dowry." ^ "Maine," 
said an anonymous writer in 1872, "derived its name it is said, from 
the province of Maine, in France, and was so called in compliment 
to the Queen of Charles the First, Henrietta of France, who owned 
that province." « "The queen of England," declared John S. C. 
Abbott in 1875, "had inherited a province of that name in France." ^ 
"The name of the territory," remarked George J. Varney in 1890, 
alluding to Gorges's charter of 1639, "under the new charter was 
changed to 'Maine,' in honor of the Queen, whose patrimonial estate 
as Princess of France, was the French province of Mayne." ^ 

In 1850 Susan Fenimore Cooper gave a somewhat different twist 
to Sulhvan's theory, writing: 

Maine, the former satellite of Massachusetts, was named by the 
French colonists after the fertile province on the banks of the Loire, 
. . . The French have generally given respectable names, either repeti- 
tions of personal titles, or of local names, or else descriptive words : la 
Louisiane, les Carolines, le Maine, Montreal, Quebec, Canada ; for, as 



the province of Meyne in France," changed his opinion as a result of some- 
thing said by Miss Strickland ; but in her sketch of Henrietta Maria (Lives of 
the Queens of England, 1845, viii. 1-266) she apparently does not mention the 
French province of Maine. 

' Collections of the Maine Historical Society, iii. 31 note. 

* History of New England, i. 525 note. 

^ History of the United States, i. 337 note. 

* Maine: her Place in History (1877), p. 54 note. 

^ Collections of the Maine Historical Spciety, vol. v. p. xxi. 
" American Historical Record, i. 211. 
^ History of Maine, p. 107. 
« Brief History of Maine (second edition), p. 42, 

24 



370 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [Dec. 

we have already observed, leaving a good Indian name is equal to giving 
one of our own.^ 

In speaking of "the fertile province on the banks of the Loire," 
Miss Cooper apparently confused the ancient province of Maine, 
which was not on the Loire, with the modern department of " INIaine- 
et-Loire," which is. Passing over two or three other statements in 
the above passage which are open to criticism, it is merely necessary 
to remark that our Maine obtained its name from the early English 
explorers and not from the French colonists, by whom indeed it was 
apparently never called "le Maine." 

Though Folsom and subsequent writers have indicated that Sulli- 
van's theory about the French province of Maine is untenable, yet 
apparently no one of them has shown exactly what the history of 
that province has been. Hence the following account from the last 
edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica is pertinent: 

Hugh Capet made the countship of Maine hereditary in the person 
of Hugh I. . . . The people of Le Mans availed themselves of the 
absence of the Conqueror in England to rise against him, and were 
ultimately successful in gaining their freedom. Maine became united 
wiUi Anjou by the marriage of its heiress with Fulk of Anjou, father of 
Geoffrey Plantagcnet. Henry II. of England, the son of Geoffrey, was 
bom at Le Mans. On the confiscation of the estates of King John, 
Maine passed to Philip Augustus of France; by Louis IX., tlie grand- 
son of Philip, it was handed over in 1245 to Charles, count of Provence, 
aftenvards king of Naples; and in 1328 it was reunited to the domains 
of the crown by Philip of Valois, who was count of JNIaine. It was again 
separated by his grandson Louis of Anjou, tlie brother of King 
Charles V. During tlie Hundred Years' War, Maine was a continual 
battlefield ; the English were driven out by Dunois, who took possession 
of Le Mans in 1447. In 1481, on the death of Charles of Maine, the 
last scion of the house of Anjou, ISIaine was again united to die French 
crown by Louis XL 

But we are not yet done with Sullivan. "Prior to this grant," he 
says, meaning the charter of April 3, 1G39, "the name of Province, 
or County of Maine, wjis never known." ^ 'J'hough this statement 
has been repeated by Williamson (1832), Folsom (184(1),^ Southgate 

" Hunil Hours, pj). 479, 4S3. * See p. 307, above. 

• See p. 3GS, ubove. 



1909] ORIGIN OF THE NAME OF MAINE 371 

(1853), Willis (1857), R. K. Sewall (1859),^ Palfrey (1859), Abbott 
(1875), Bryant and Gay (1876), and by Varney (1890), it is never- 
theless an error.^ On August 22, 1622, the Council for New England 
made to Sir Ferdinando Gorges and Captain John Mason a grant in 
which occur the words: 

Now this Indenture witnesseth that ye s^ President and Councill 
. . . doe give grant bargaine sell assigne alien sett over and confirrae 
unto y^ s^ S'' Ferdinando Gorges & Cap* lohn Mason their heirs and 
assignes all that part of y^ maine land in New England lying vpon y® 
Sea Coast betwixt y*^ rivers of Merimack & Sagadahock . . . w*''^ said 
porcons of lands w*^ y* appurtenances the said S'' Ferdinando Gorges 
and Capt lohn Mason w*^ the consent of y® President & Councell intend 
to name y^ Province of Maine.' 

Here, then, in 1622, and not in 1639, we first find the title Province 
of Maine. Before showing how that fact, unknown until 1860, affects 
the question of the origin of the name of Maine, it will be appropriate 
to explain how writers previous to 1860 were led astray. It is prob- 
able that the early charters ^ relating to Maine and to New Hamp- 
shire are more numerous and more perplexing than those relating to 
any other colony; and whoever has had occasion to consult them 
knows how tedious is the process of examination and how many are 
the pitfalls. If, even at the present day, when doubtless all the charters 
extant can be consulted in print, historians yet make mistakes, it is 
small wonder that hopeless confusion and uncertainty existed in the 
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when few had been printed 
and the exact contents of many were unknown. Thus it was not 
until the publication in 1860 of the first volume of the Calendar of 
State Papers, Colonial Series, 1574-1660, that it became known that 
the title Province of Maine occurs in the grant of August 22, 1622, 
and it was not until 1862 that the grant was printed in full.^ On 

* Ancient t)ominions of Maine, p. 124. 

* Gov. Chamberlain makes a curious slip. In one place he speaks of the grant 
of August 10, 1622, "which the indenture itself states 'they intend to call the 
Province of Maine,' " yet a little later declares that in the charter of April 3, 
1639, the territory "was now for the first time, and by charter, named the 
Province of Maine " (Maine: her Place in History, pp. 44, 54). 

' Documentary History of the State of Maine, vii. 66, 67, 68. 

* The word " charter " as here used includes charters, grants, and patents, as it 
is impossible to distinguish between the terms. 

* In J. A. Poor's Vindication of the Claims of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, pp. 121-123. 



372 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [Dec. 

November 17, 1629, the Council for New England made to Gorges 
and Mason a grant of territory which "the said S"" Ferdinando Gorges 
and Cap"^ In° INIason with the consent of the president & Councill 
intend to name the Province of Laconia," ^ In 1784 Bell^nap 
confused the two grants, and, speaking of the grant of August 10, 
1G22, said: "The next year another grant was made, to Gorges and 
INIason jointly, of all the lands between the rivers Merrimack and 
Sagadehock, extending back to the great lakes and river of Canada, 
and this was called Laconia." ^ It has been stated that "all writers, 
until recently, have called the grant of Aug. 10, 1622, the Laconia 
grant; " ^ but Sullivan, though he had no exact information about the 
grant of November 17, 1629, pointed out that Belknap must be mis- 
taken.* Nevertheless, Belknap's error has been repeated by William- 
son (1832),=^ Folsom (1846),° Southgate (1853),"' Palfrey (1859),« 
Bancroft (1883),» and Varney (1890).'" 

Let us now return to the grant of August 10, 1022, and its bearing 
on Sullivan's theory of the origin of the name. In 1639 Henrietta 
Maria was the wife of King Charles, but in 1622 her future husband 
was merely Prince Charles and unmarried. It is true that his mar- 
riaiie with Henrietta Maria had been broached in 1620, but it was 
not seriously considered until 1624 and did not take place until 1625. 
Though attention was called to this point by Charles W. Tuttle as 
long ago as 1872, yet his remarlvs have apparendy escaped the 
notice of all subsequent writers on the subject. He said : 

The name, INIainc, was first authoritatively and dclil)rratcly api)lied 
to lliat i)art of the State lying west of the Kennebec River, in the charter 

' Documentary History of the State of Maine, vii. 102. 

- History of New Hampshire, i. 8. 

^ S. F. Haven, History of Cirants under the Great Council for New England, 
in Early History of Massachusetts (1867), p. 150. Charles Deane called atten- 
tion to Belknap's mistake in Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society 
for .\pril 24, 1807, p. 50 note, and ibid, for October 21, IStiS, p. '.M. 

* History of Maine, pp. 2()7-2(J9. Yet Sullivan himself seems to have been 
hopelessly confused. Cf. pp. Ill, 119, 304. 

' History of the State of .Maine, i. 225. 

■ Collections of the Maine Historical Society, ii. 52. 

' Ibid. iii. :iO. 

• History of New ICngland, i. 205. 

» History of the Cnited States (1S7C.), i. 257; ibid. (1SS3), i. 217. 
'" Brief History of .Maine, p. ;>1. 



1909] ORIGIN OF THE NAME OF MAINE 373 

of the great council for New-England, granting this territory to Sir 
Ferdinando Gorges and Captain John Mason, dated August 10, 1622. 
In this charter it is styled the "Province of Maine." This event was 
nearly two years before the Princess Henrietta Maria of France was 
thought of for a wife to Prince Charles of England. At the time this 
name was inserted in the charter, a marriage treaty was pending, and 
had been for some years, between the courts of England and Spain, 
having for its object the marriage of Prince Charles and the Infanta 
Maria, daughter of Philip III. of Spain. A marriage of these royal 
parties was expected until early in the year 1624. It is clear from this, 
and other circumstances that could be mentioned, that the naming of 
Maine had nothing to do with Henrietta Maria of France, as alleged.^ 

Though this statement is correct in general, yet Mr. Tuttle was 
mistaken in saying that the naming of Maine occurred "nearly two 
years before the Princess Henrietta Maria of France was thought of 
for a wife to Prince Charles of England." The negotiations entered 
into by James I in regard to a marriage between his sons Henry and 
Charles and the daughters of Henry IV of France and of Philip III 
of Spain, were many and various. In 1611 John Digby (created Earl 
of Bristol in 1622) was sent ambassador to Madrid to negotiate a 
marriage between Prince Henry and the Infanta Anne (who later 
became the wife of Louis XIII) or the Infanta Maria. An interest- 
ing letter, in which both ladies are mentioned, written by Prince 
Henry himself on July 29, 1612, has been printed ;2 but his own 
death in the following November of course put an end to that nego- 
tiation. At the age of sixteen, Charles was created Prince of Wales 
in 1616 ; but long before that date negotiations were opened in France 
for marrying him to the Princess Christina (a sister of Henrietta 
Maria, and later the wife of Victor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy), 
and in November, 1613, the scheme was in a fair way to a conclu- 
sion. In 1614, again in 1617, and once more in 1622, Digby was 
sent to Spain to negotiate a marriage between Charles and the In- 
fanta Maria; and on February 17, 1622-23, Charles started on his 

1 Boston Transcript, June 8, 1872, p. 6/4. When this letter was reprinted in 
the New England Historical and Genealogical Register for July, 1875, xxix. 
243-244, it was preceded by an editorial note stating : " We learn that Mr. Tuttle 
is preparing a full account of the origin of the name of Maine." So far as I am 
aware, that account was never written. 

2 H. Ellis's Original Letters, Second Series (1S27), iii. 226-228. 



374 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [Dec. 

ill-fated journey to ^Madrid, passing through Paris, where he saw 
for the first time his future wife.^ Meanwhile, however, the French 
proposals had not been allowed entirely to drop. In 1618 James 
Hay (created Earl of Carlisle in 1622) was sent to Paris to demand 
the hand of Christina for Charles.^ In 1620 a proposal to marry 
Henrietta Maria to Charles came from France itself; and on the 
breaking off of the Spanish treaty in 1624, Henry Rich (then Baron 
Kensington and in the same year created Earl of Holland) and 
James Hay (then Earl of Carlisle) were sent to Paris to complete 
the negotiations. On INIay 1, 1625, five weeks after his accession 
to the throne, Charles was married by proxy, and on June 13 he 
received his bride at Canterbury.^ 

Though Williamson stated that the name of Maine "was chosen, 
probably, in compliment to the queen," yet both in his text and in 

' Mr. Baxter says that "Charles, accompanied by the dissolute Buckingham, 
had seen and wooed the princess Maria, but, returning through France incognito, 
had stopped in Paris, and at a ball there had seen the French princess Henrietta " 
(Sir Ferdinando Gorges and liis Province of Maine, Prince Society, i. 133). It 
was, however, on their journey to Madrid that the two travelled incognito. 
Charles left the Escorial September 2, 1623, sailed from Santander September 
18, and landed at Portsmouth October 5. (Gardiner, Prince Charles and the 
Spanish Match, ii. 409, 413, 421.) In a letter dated Paris, February 22, 
1622-23, Charles himself gave this description: 

Since the closing of our last we have beene at Court againe, (and that we might not 
houd you in paine, we assure you that we have not been knowen,) where we saw the 
•young Queene, littell Monsieur, and Madame, at the practising of a Maske that is in- 
tended by the Queene to be presented to the Kinge, and in it ther danced the Queene and 
Madame with as rnanie as made up nineteen faire dancing Ladies, amongst wliich the 
Queene is the handsomest, which hath wrought in me a greater desier to see her sister. 
(In H. Ellis's Original Letters, 1824, iii. l'Jl-122.) 

The wife of Louis XIII was Anne, sister of the Infanta Maria; "littell Mon- 
sieur " was Gaston, Duke of Orleans; "Madame" was the Princess Henrietta 
Maria. Henrietta Maria's sister Elizabeth married Philip IV of Spain. After 
the breaking off of the EngUsh marriage, the Infanta Maria married the Em- 
peror Ferdinand III. 

" In an account of an interview with 'Lady Carew, dated September 19, lOlS, 
Sir Thomas Wilson said, referring to Queen Anne of England, that "Her 
Majesty said she would rather have the match with Mdme. Chretienne than 
the Spanish lady with all her gold " (Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1611- 
161«, p. 573). 

* See the notices (by S. R. Gardiner) of Charles, Digby, Hay, and Henrietta 
Maria, and that of Hich (by C. H. Firth) in the Dictionary of National 
Biography; Calendar of State Papcr.^ Domestic, 1G11-161M, 1619-1623, 1623- 
1625. 






1909] ORIGIN OF THE NAME OF MAINE 375 

a footnote he indicated its true origin/ "By reason of the great 
number of Islands in this quarter," he says in a footnote, "the shores, 
or coast, were frequendy called 'the Main.'" He then cites three ex- 
amples and thus concludes: "This expression, 'the Main,' is com- 
mon in old authors." It was indeed common — so common that 
other examples would hardly be necessary were it not for the fact 
that historians have shown a singular hesitancy in accepting this 
origin of the name. "This eastern country," said Palfrey in 1859, 
"had commonly been called the Mayne [main] land, in distinction 
from the numerous islands on its coast, . . . and thus perhaps it was 
that Gorges's province obtained its name." ^ Tutde wrote in 1872 : 

It seems reasonably certain that the State of Maine owes its name to 
no European State, province or personage, but to its own unique geo- 
graphical features.^ Years before the name appeared in this charter to 
Gorges and Mason, its territory, or the littoral part of it, was commonly 
designated by English mariners and writers, " The ' Main," variously 
spelt, to distinguish it from its insular parts lying off the shore. This 
origin of the name, proposed long ago, seems to be the true one.* 

"Maine, like all the rest of the coast," declared Bryant and Gay 
in 1876, "was known as the 'Maine,* the mainland, and it is not 
unlikely that the word so much used by the early fishers on the coast, 
may thus have been permanently given to this part of it." ^ "There 

* In his text (see p. 368, above) Williamson spoke of "the provincial name 
of Maine, though one by which this section of the country was at that time 
frequently called," etc. This statement is somewhat misleading. The word 
"main " was applied to the mainland along the coast, but it was not applied 
to the territory as such. Previous to the charter of April 1, 1639, the country 
was once and once only called " Mame " — namely, in the grant of August 10, 
1622. Thus before 1639 a man at Boston or Plymouth would never have said 
that he was going "to Maine," meaning the present State of Maine. He might 
have said that he was "going to the main; " but that would have left the exact 
locality in doubt. See also note 3, below. 

^ History of New England, i. 525 note. 

' In speaking of Maine's "own unique geographical features," Tuttle was 
using exaggerated language. Maine is not the only State in the Union that has 
islands along its coast, though it has more than any other. The word "main " 
was appUed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to the mainland 
along the entire Atlantic coast, from the Carolinas to Greenland. See also note 
1, above. 

* Boston Transcript, June 8, 1872, p. 6/4; New England Historical and 
Genealogical Register, xxix. 244. 

® History of the United States, i. 337 note. 



376 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [Dec. 

is little doubt," remarked Governor Chamberlain in 187G, "that the 
name arose in the natural distinction made in common speech 
between the islands then so much frequented, and the shoreland or 
the 'main.' The spelling furnishes no argument. The adjective 
was often spelled 'maine,' and the proper noun 'Main,'" ^ "'Maine' 
took its name," declared Charles Deane in 1884, "probably from the 
early designation, by the sailors and fishermen, of the main land — 
that is, ' the main,' — in distinction from the numerous islands on 
the coast." 2 

As, therefore, historians are not over-confident, and as the matter 
is after all a little perplexing, a few additional remarks will not be 
lacking in pertinency.^ 

The word "main " is used in two distinct senses which may be, 
and sometimes are, confused. First, it is elliptical for "main sea." 
This use is now poetical or figurative, as in Longfellow's Psalm of 
Life, "sailing o'er life's solemn main." Secondly, it is elliptical for 
"mainland," a sense now archaic. The phrase "main of iVmerica," 
meaning the continent of America, was formerly not uncommon; 
while the term "Spanish Main " is still often lu>ard, though some- 

' Maine : her Place in History, p. 54 note. 

- Narrative and C'ritical History of America, iii. 3C3 note. 

^ The lack of certainty on the part of historians is doubtless due to the fact 
that this point has never received adequate treatment. Writers have asserted 
that the word " main " was frequently used for mainland, but have failed to 
furnish proof. "Tlie name of ' Province of Maine,'" says Miss Mary F. Farnham, 
"is first used in the grant to Gorges and Mason, 1622; its origin is not ditlicult 
to trace in the frequent use of maLne as appUed to 'maine land,' and 'along the 
main'" (Documentarj'^ History of the State of Maine, vol. vii. p. xxi). And 
again, referring to the charter of April 3, 1039, she says: "The name 'Province 
of Maine' is repeated from the grant of 1G22. By reference to the early charters 
it is easy to arrive at a correct idea of the origin of the name, which has survived 
all the changes of colonial rule, and is perpetuated in the phrase 'State of Maine'" 
(ibid. vii. 222). It is obvious that nothing later than August 10, 1(522, is of 
value. Now the word "main," in the sense of mainland, occurs only three times 
previous to tliat date in the d(x;uments printed by Miss Farnham, — namely, 
on Marcli 3, 1019-20, November 3, 1020, and July 24, 1022. These extracts are 
quut<-'d in tlie t<,'xt, p. 379, below. Hence it is necessary to go to other docu- 
ments than those given by Miss Farnham. Williamson (History of the State of 
Maine, i. 277 not<»), quotes three extracts, one from Smith's (Jenerall Historie 
of Vir^'inia, jiulilishi'd in 102J, oni- from a diK'umciit dated lO;?'), and one from 
u work \vnlt<-n aljout lOSO. Tliese arc of course ti>o late. Palfrey (History of 
New England, i. f)25 note) repeats two of Williamson's citations. In the present 
pafKT, for the first tiuie so far as 1 am aware, full evidence on this point is given. 



1909] ORIGIN OF THE NAME OF MAINE 377 

times it is erroneously used. Thus the fourth stanza in the Wreck 
of the Hesperus, as originally written, read : 

Then up and spake an old Sailor, 

Had sailed the Spanish Main, 
"I pray thee, put into yonder port. 

For I fear a hurricane." 

When Longfellow discovered or had his attention called to the fact 
that the Spanish Main was land, not water, he altered the second line 
to "Had sailed to the Spanish Main." ^ 

In the sense of mainland, examples of the word "main " will be 
found in the Oxford English Dictionary ranging from 1555 to 1891, 
though none have reference to this part of America. Some addi- 
tional examples follow. In Gabriel Archer's account of Captain 
Bartholomew Gosnold's voyage to New England in 1602, the word 
is frequently so used, as thus: 

A little from the supposed lies appeared unto us an opening, with 
which we stood judging it to bee the end of that which Captaine Gosnoll 
descrieth from Cape Cod, . . . From this opening the Mayne lyeth South- 
west, which coasting along we saw a disinhabited Hand which so after- 
wards appeared unto us : we bore with it, and named it Marthaes Vine- . 
yard, . . . the next morning wee sent off our Boate to discover another 
Cape, that lay betweene us and the Mayne, from which were a ledge of 
Rockes . . . This called wee GosnoUs Hope; the North banke whereof 
is the Mayne, which stretcheth East and West. . . . The one and thirtieth 
[of May], Captaine Gosnoll desirous to see the Maine, because of the 
distance, hee set sayle over; . . . This Maine is the goodliest Continent 
that ever we saw, promising more by farre then we any way did expect.^ 

Alluding to the same voyage, John Brereton wrote : 

Hard by, wee espied seven Indians, and comming up to them, at first 
they expressed some feare ; but being emboldned by our courteous usage, 

* "The poet found out, one day," writes W. J. Rolfe in the Nation of 
October 22, 1908, " that the Spanish Main was the mainland bordering on what 
he — like nine people out of ten — had supposed to be the sea called by that 
name " (Ixxxvii. 383). Dr. Rolfe, however, does not indicate when the dis- 
covery was made. The reading is "Had sailed the Spanish Main" in Long- 
fellow's Poems, 1842, ii. 43, and in his Poems, 1866, i. 95. In the Poetical 
Works, 1872, p. 40, the reading is "Had sailed to the Spanish Main." Hence 
the change was made in 1872 or between 1866 and 1872. 

" Purchas his Pilgrimes (1906), xviii. 306, 307, 309. 



378 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [Dec. 

and some trifles which we gave them, they followed us to a necke of Land, 
which wee imagined had beene severed from the INIayne: ... all the 
Hands, as also the Maine (where wee were) is all Rockie Grounds and 
broken Lands.^ 

In his account of a voyage made in 1603, Captain Martin Pring 
wrote: 

At length comming to the Mayne in the latitude of 43. degrees and an 
halfe, we ranged the same to the South-west. . . . But meeting with 
no Sassafras, we left these places with all the foresaid Hands, shaping 
our course for Savage Rocke, discovered the yeere before by Captaine 
Gosnold, where going upon the ISIayne we found people, with whom we 
had no long conversation, because here also we could find no Sassafras.^ 

In his account of Captain George Waymouth's voyage in 1605, 
James Rosier said: 

From hence we might disceme many Hands, and the maine Land, 
from the West South-west to tlie East North-east ; and North North-east 
from us a great way as it then seemed (and as we after found it) up 
into the Maine, we might discerne very high Mountaines, although the 
Maine seemed but lowe Land.^ 

In his Description of New England, published in 1616, Captain 
John Smith remarked : 

Thus you may see, of this 2000. miles more then halfe is yet vnknowne 
to any ])urpose: no, not so much as the borders of the Sea are yet cer- 
tainly discouered. As for the goodness and true substances of the Land, 
wee are for most part yet altogedier ignorant of them, vnlesse it bee those 
parts about the Bay of Chisapeack, and Sagadahock: but onely here 
and tliere wee touched or haue scene a little the edges of diose large 
dominions, which doe stretch themselues into tlic Maine, God doth 
know how many thousand miles.' 

In a letter written to Purehas on December 27, 1010, Ca})tain 
Thomas Dermer said : 

l)ci)artiiig hence, the next place we arrived at was Capaock, an Hand 
formerly discovered by tlie English, . . . the winde faire, I stooil away 



> Purclms his Pilf;riines (I'JOC), xviii. 315. 

- Ibid, xviii. :V2:i, :i21. " Ibid, xviii. 3.3S. 

* Descriplitm of .\i-w luitilaiul, WdiLs (ISSJ), p. 1!)(). 



1909] ORIGIN OF THE NAME OF MAINE 379 

shaping my course as the Coast led mee, till I came to the most Westerly 
part where the Coast began to fall away Southerly. In my way I dis- 
covered Land about thirtie leagues in length, heretofore taken for Mayne, 
where I feared I had beene imbayed, but by the helpe of an Indian I 
got to the Sea againe, through many crooked and streight passages. 
. . . Being thus overcharged with weather, I stood alongst the coast to 
seeke harbours, to attend a favourable gale to recover the streight, but 
being a harbourlesse Coast for ought we could then perceive, wee found 
no succour till wee arrived betwixt Cape Charles and the Maine on the 
East side the Bay Chestapeak, where in a wilde Roade wee anchored.* 

In a petition for a charter of New England by the Northern Com- 
pany of Adventurers, dated March 3, 1619-20, it is asked: 

First, that the territories where yo'" peticoners makes their plantacon 
may be caled (as by the Prince His Highnes it hath bin named) New 
England, that the boundes thereof ma,y be setled from 40 to 45 degrees 
of Northerly latitude & soe from sea to sea through the maine as the 
coast lyeth.^ 

In the patent of New England, granted by James I on November 20, 
1620, are the words : 

And wee ... do by these Presents absolutely give, grant, and con- 
firm unto the said Councill, called the Councill established att Plymouth 
in the County of Devon for the planting, ruling, and governing of New- 
England in America, . . . that foresad Part of America, lying, and being 
in Breadth from ffourty Degrees of Northerly Latitude from the Equin- 
octiall Line, to ffourty-eight Degrees of the said Northerly Latitude 
inclusively, and in Length of, and within all the Breadth aforesaid, 
throughout all the Maine Lands from Sea to Sea, together also, with 
the Firme Lands, Soyles, Grounds, Havens, Ports, . . . Fishings, Mines, 
and Mineralls, . . . and all, and singular other Comodities, Jurisdictions, 
Royalties, Priviliges, Franchises, and Preheminences, both within the 
same Tract of Land upon the Maine, and also within the said Islands 
and Seas adjoining.^ 

In a minute of the Council for New England made on July 24, 
1622, we read: 

* Purchas his Pilgrimes, xix. 132, 133. 

' Documentary History of the State of Maine, vii. 17. 

3 Ibid. vii. 33. 



380 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [Dec. 

It is ordered and agreed that the Lord Duke of Lenox have for his 
devident and part of the INIayne Land of New England in America, 
from ye middle of Sawahquatock towards Sagadahoc, and his bounds 
that way to reach mid way betweene Sawahquatock and Sagadahoc 
upon ye Coast. And to reach 30 miles backward into ye INIayne. And 
3 Leasrues into ve sea. . . . The Earle of Arundele to have for his devi- 
dent from ye middle of Sagadahoc, and to goe northeast soe much on 
his side, as Mr. Secretary ^ goes on y^ other side upon y^ Coast. And 
to reach miles backward into ye INIayne, and 3 leagues into ye Sea.^ 

It would be useless to continue these extracts, which could be 
adduced indefinitely. Enough have been given to show that long 
before the appearance in 1622 of the title Province of JNIaine, the 
word "main" in the sense of mainland had been in common use 
among the early explorers along the New England coast. 



NOTE ON THE NAME OF MARIANA. 

On March 9, 1621-22, Capt. John Mason received from the Council for New 
Enfiland a grant of territory lying between the Naumkeag and the Mcrrimac, 
" w'^'^ said porcons of Lands w*'^ the appurtences the s'^ Jhohn Mason with the 
consent of the President and Councill intendeth to name Mariana." ^ In 1890 
Mr. James P. Baxter wTote: "No reason has heretofore been assigned why 
Mason gave the name Mariana to his possessions between the Naumkeag and 
Merrimac; but it seems e\ddent that this name was bestowed upon it in honor 
of the Spanish princess Maria, whose proposed marriage with Prince Charles 
was then the principal topic of discussion." ■* Mr. Baxter has overlooked a 
lett«r ^\Titten June 7, 1S72, in which Charles W. Tuttle said: "I may add, in 

' Sir George Calvert, later first Baron Baltimore. 

- Documentary History of the State of Maine, vii. 61-62. In a letter written 
to Mason on March 18, 1631, Gorges said: 

As for the ptie you write of that hath lived w*** the Dutch soe longe time I wislie yo" 
would iiotomitl to lu'epe him on reasonable eondicons untill my comoing viii)[to Lomlon], 
in the meane while that yon will informe your selte of the .strength they haue where they 
Hue, how fortified, k puided for, how farr vpp, into the Maine they beo, What other 
Commodity they finde besides their Trade of fnrrs, what Cattle, wliat Horses, and what 
carriages they make vso of w"' what people they hold CorasjHjndancy w"'all, and what 
Enemyes they liaue, and in what pails of the Country tlier Eneniyes, or freinds are (Sir 
Ferdinamio Gorges and his Pi-ovinee of Maine, Prince Society, iii. 2ri4). 

In the index to that volume "the Maine," which of course means mainland, 
is entt'red umler " Maine," as if it referred to the Province of Maine. 

• Capt. John Mason (Prince Society), p. 171. 

* Sir Kerdinaudo Gorges ami his Province of Maine (Prince Society), i. 124 
note. 



1909] ORIGIN OF THE NAME OF MAINE 381 

this connection, that I expect to show, in my life of Captain John Mason, soon 
to go to press, that this Spanish Infanta was designedly complimented about 
this time in the naming of a district in New England, granted by the great 
council, a curious fact, overlooked by historians." * Mr. Tuttle died in 1881, 
and his Capt. John Mason, edited by John W. Dean, was not published by the 
Prince Society until 1887. Unfortunately the notes which Mr. Tuttle had pre- 
pared on this point were not preserved, or at least are not incorporated in the 
printed work, and so the proofs he promised in 1872 are not forthcoming. Nor 
does Mr. Baxter offer proof. 

I would call attention to another " curious fact, overlooked by historians " — 
namely, that so far as the name Mariana is concerned it might have been derived 
from Henrietta Maria equally well as from the Infanta Maria. Indeed, Mariana 
was the name proposed for Maryland by Charles himself. The story is thus 
told by Scharf: 

Lord Baltimore, it is said, drew up the charter with his own hand and left a blank in 
it for the name " which he designed should be Crescentia, or, the land of Crescence, but 
leaving it to his majesty to insert." "The King, before he signed the charter, put the 
question to his Lordship, what he should call it, who replied that he desired to have it 
called something in honor of his majesty's name, but that he was deprived of that happi- 
ness, there being already a province in those parts called Carolina." ^ "Let us, there- 
fore," says the King, "give it a name in honor of the Queen ; what think you of Mari- 
ana V To this his lordship expressed his dissent, it being the name of a Jesuit, who 
had written against monarchy.^ Whereupon the King proposed Terra Marioe, in 
English, Maryland, which was concluded on and inserted in the bill.* And thus the 
proposed colony was named in honor of Henrietta Maria, daughter of Henry IV., king 
of France and Navarre, and sister of Louis XIII. , who was usually called Queen Mary 
by writers of the day. Thus Laud writes in his Diary (p. 6) ; "An. 1625, June 12, 
Queen Mary crossing the sea, landed upon our shores about seven o'clock in the evening," 
Similar instances are to be found in Fuller's Church History.^ 

Secretary Conway in a letter dated November 22, 1624, and King Charles in 
a letter dated May 1, 1625, speak of the Princess as "Lady Marie.'" f'The 
queen of Charles I.," writes Miss Strickland, "is knowTi to all readers of his- 
tory by the name of Henrietta Maria ; but she was not called so by her husband 
or at her own court. The Idng chose to call her Mary; and when those in his 
household remonstrated with liim that this name, owing to the Marian perse- 
cutions, had become very unpopular to English ears, he still persisted in calling 
his bride 'Mary,' declaring that the land should find blessings connected with 
her name which would counteract all previous evils." ' 



1 Boston Transcript, June 8, 1872, p. 6/4; New England Historical and Genea- 
logical Register, xxix. 244. 

=■ This is an allusion to the grant to Sir Robert Heath on October 30, 1629, 
of Carolana (or Carolina). No settlements were made under it. 

« Juan de Mariana (1536-1623). 

* Scharf gives as his authorities manuscripts in the British Museum. 

* History of Maryland, i. 51-52. 

« Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1623-1G25, p. 387; ibid. 1625-1626, 
p. 16. 

' Lives of the Queens of England, viii. 33. 



«*<ci«a 



382 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [Dec. 

According to Mr. Tuttle, "in the spring or summer of 1621, Mason returned 
into England;" * and he obtained his grant of Mariana on March 9, 1621-22. 
Mr. Baxter may be right in saj'ing that the proposed marriage of the Infanta 
Maria with Prince Charles "was then the principal topic of discussion; " though 
there is little about it until somewhat later in the letters and documents printed 
in Ellis's Original Letters, in Birch's Court and Times of James the First, and 
in the Calendars of State Papers, Domestic, 1619-1623. 

It is not in the least my purpose to throw doubt upon the explanation pro- 
posed by Mr. Tuttle and Mr. Baxter, but merely to show that the matter is not 
quite so simple as it seems. 

' Capt. John Mason (Prince Society), p. 14. 



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